TY - JOUR
T1 - Including Diverse Stakeholder Voices in Youth Character Program Evaluation
AU - Chauveron, Lisa M.
AU - Samtani, Satabdi
AU - Groner, Megan G.
AU - Urban, Jennifer Brown
AU - Linver, Miriam R.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the John Templeton Foundation Grant #60483 for supporting the PACE project implementation and evaluation.
Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: John Templeton Foundation Grant #60483 supported the PACE Project implementation and evaluation.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Although experts agree that diverse stakeholder inclusion enhances quality and equity in evaluation designs and implementation, diverse voices are often omitted. Particularly antithetical to principles of youth character development, evaluations for these programs should strive to include voices from various social, economic, community, and demographic perspectives. One innovative national evaluation capacity building initiative, the Partnerships for Advancing Character Program Evaluation (PACE) project, paired practitioners from youth programs in community-based organizations with evaluation professionals to enhance stakeholders’ roles in evaluation. PACE promoted stakeholder identification and inclusion through group exercises, partnership work, and coaching sessions. Using a mixed methods design with interviews, retrospective pretest–posttest surveys, and observational data, triangulated data addressed diverse stakeholders in the evaluation process, diverse perspectives on program performance, and connecting diverse input to evaluation design. Postprogram findings indicate that participants included more varied and diverse stakeholder perspectives in all the three areas. Implications for programs and evaluations are discussed.
AB - Although experts agree that diverse stakeholder inclusion enhances quality and equity in evaluation designs and implementation, diverse voices are often omitted. Particularly antithetical to principles of youth character development, evaluations for these programs should strive to include voices from various social, economic, community, and demographic perspectives. One innovative national evaluation capacity building initiative, the Partnerships for Advancing Character Program Evaluation (PACE) project, paired practitioners from youth programs in community-based organizations with evaluation professionals to enhance stakeholders’ roles in evaluation. PACE promoted stakeholder identification and inclusion through group exercises, partnership work, and coaching sessions. Using a mixed methods design with interviews, retrospective pretest–posttest surveys, and observational data, triangulated data addressed diverse stakeholders in the evaluation process, diverse perspectives on program performance, and connecting diverse input to evaluation design. Postprogram findings indicate that participants included more varied and diverse stakeholder perspectives in all the three areas. Implications for programs and evaluations are discussed.
KW - diversity
KW - evaluation capacity building
KW - evaluation design
KW - evaluation use
KW - stakeholder inclusion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101044672&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1098214020917218
DO - 10.1177/1098214020917218
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85101044672
SN - 1098-2140
JO - American Journal of Evaluation
JF - American Journal of Evaluation
ER -